Prion Disinfection
AssigneeNovapharm Research (Australia) Pty Ltd
InventorsSteven Kritzler, Alex Sava, Michael Zalunardo
Life of this patent
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Abstract
The invention relates to a methods and compositions for treating a surface, suspension or solution contaminated with a PrPSc prion protein or a surrogate thereof. The methods and compositions employ a combination of one or more enzymes effective to cleave a prion protein to fragments having a non-infective molecular weight, and one or more agents selected to favour conformational unfolding of the PrPSc prion protein while not denaturing the one or more enzymes.
Claims20
1-21. (canceled)
A method of disinfection comprising the steps of treating a surface, suspension, or solution contaminated with a PrPSc prion protein simultaneously 5 with a combination comprising:
- (1) one or more enzymes effective to cleave a PrPSc prion protein to fragments having a non-infective molecular weight;
- (2) an anionic surfactant selected to favor conformational unfolding of the PrPSc prion protein while not denaturing the one or more enzymes;
- and
- (3) one or more agents selected to promote or protect folding of the one or more enzymes, without preventing cleavage of the PrPSc prion protein, and
- (4) wherein the conditions are selected to favor unfolding over refolding and wherein the combination of the enzyme, the anionic surfactant and the one or more agents is selected so as to effectively cleave a prion surrogate which is a protein with a high degree of sheeting.
A composition for treating a surface contaminated with a PrPSc prion protein or a surrogate thereof comprising:
- (1) one or more enzymes effective to cleave a PrPSc prion protein to fragments having a non-infective molecular weight;
- (2) an anionic surfactant selected to favor conformational unfolding of the PrPSc prion protein while not denaturing the one or more enzymes;
- and
- (3) one or more agents selected to promote or protect folding of the one or more enzymes, without preventing cleavage of the PrPSc prion protein, and
- (4) wherein the conditions are selected to favor unfolding over refolding and wherein the combination of the enzyme, the anionic surfactant and the one or more agents is selected so as to effectively cleave a prion surrogate which is a protein with a high degree of sheeting.
Dependencies are inferred from the claim text.